how to market a novel
My cousin and good friend, Rodes Fishburne, just finished his first book. It's quite a good novel set in San Francisco, somewhat in the vein of Tom Robbins, and officially launches on December 30th.
Anyway, he asked if I had any advice on how to get the word out about the book. Quite a few new novels are published each year and it's hard to break through the clutter. Sounds like most any product category actually.
I gave him a few suggestions, and then thought this might make an interesting contest. So, I have a signed first edition for the best marketing suggestion for Rodes received by next Wednesday, the 17th. Just post a comment to this blog post. Thanks in advance!
This idea will require some logistical help.
Place 20 – 30 copies on the shelves of public libraries – in the appropriate place on the shelves (Friends will do this for you. A smaller library might be willing to help out in exchange for a copy to keep in their collection. But for the most part it’s probably best not to clue in the library.)
Put a $5 gift card of some type inside – Starbucks or Borders would work well. Make one of them fairly high value ($100).
Start hitting the “Book Blogs” and see if you can get them to tease it – leave tidbits in the comments to start getting some buzz and get people looking.
When it happens send out announcements to every outlet that might conceivably publish the first find.
Put up a site where people can register their find and leave reviews of the book.
I guess giving a copy to Oprah is out of the question. Or better yet, giving a copy to everyone in Oprah’s audience. Has see had her holiday give away yet. That lady can create quite the buzz with the book reading crowd.
I don’t think ‘quite a good novel’ is the kind of ringing endorsement that your friend might be looking for.
In this day and age, the product needs to be able to cash the cheque that the marketing is writing. Talking stuff up is not an option anymore.
Andrea, you’re absolutely right to point out that the first step is always to ensure that a product is remarkable and worth talking about.
This book is both remarkable and worth talking about. I wanted this post to be about the challenge of getting the word out in a cluttered world rather than a review of the book itself, but you are right to insist on this. You can’t save a mediocre product with advertising. Not anymore anyway.
One other detail I should have mentioned in my post is that the book is particularly brilliant if you know San Francisco, because the city is almost a character in the book. So, I think there could be a good localized part to a communication idea too.
My first idea was off-the-cuff without knowing anything about the book. It’s pretty generic and could be used for any book. Now that I’ve checked out the book’s site and learned a little more …
A San Francisco Book Tour Contest.
Two prizes – 1 high end digital camera, 1 low/mid range camera.
The prizes will go to the first person to build a flicker set of photos of themselves in all of the SF locations in the book.
The high end prize for actual photos – the lesser prize for retouching yourself into all the locations.
You could throw in a third level prize of signed copies for the best recreations of an scenes from the book.
Here’s a few ideas
1. Get all his friends to write rave reviews on Amazon
2. Public readings. Get in touch with the people at Book Slam http://www.bookslam.com/
They may give him a slot.
3. Produce an audio version with a famous actor doing the voiceover (ideally someone with a San Francisco connection)
4. Get a link on the San Francisco Tourist Board website
5. Send a nice letter to Arnie asking him to say that the book brilliant with free (gift wrapped) copies for all his family and friends
6. Hold a fabulous New Year’s Eve Party with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge inviting the great and the good of the literary world
7. Encourage Richard and Judy to give it their stamp of approval
Do I at least win something for volume of ideas?
Rock concerts pair a less known artist with an established artist as an opening act. The two artists share a similar style of music and draw the same audience.
Your brother-in-law can suggest to his publisher that he “open” for one of their more established authors. Your brother-in-law would grow awareness and his publisher would potentially increase their buy rate.
For more flexibility, your brother-in-law could pair with different authors in different cities/book stores.
Ooo, and sell (or giveaway with or without purchase of book) t-shirts that feature the book’s cover at the readings. It’s always more fun to sign clothing than paper.
Go Guerilla!
Why not get a large elephant (ie borrow one from London Zoo)….paint the book cover on each side of said elephant….invite the press to the “launch” and take the elephant for a walk down Oxford Street to Borders, Waterstones etc. to book signings…(or just link with zoos in a partnership deal)
Fly posting is always a good one.
Viral e-mail…don’t forget to go see the elephant..
Tim
Cool. Very interesting.
Fantastic ideas, everyone! Thanks for weighing in with your thoughts. I asked Rodes to pick the winner, and he picked three: Stephen, Andreas, and Tony. So, signed copies will be en-route to you shortly…